Sletterhage Lighthouse (vol. I)

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The draught of bigger ships calling Port of Aarhus force them to pass through the fairway very close to Sletterhage Lighthouse on the southern-most tip of the Djursland peninsula. Therefore the area surrounding the lighthouse offers great, but with the direct southerly orientation, also challenging opportunities for maritime photography.

In recent years Sletterhage Lighthouse has begun to attract a broader and ever bigger audience or “amateur ship spotters”; normal people often without any relation to the maritime world, but fascinated by – and keen to experience – the close encounter with the giants in the nearby fairway.

Normally merchant shipping and modern ships only draw a very limited attention from the broader public in Denmark. But Maersk Line changed that in 2013; when they for the first time in many decades did a huge national and international promotion of their new Triple-E container ships-series.

The twenty ship Triple-E-series was at that time the Worlds biggest ships and the first twelve of them was to call the Port of Aarhus in between Gdansk and Gothenburg during their turnaround in Northern Europe before the return-leg to Asia.

So Sletterhage soon became a weekly venue for the spectacular sight of the 400 meters light blue giants passing by. At a time introduction of a paid parking lot was considered and when the weather is good a local businessman now occasionally provide a mobile hot-dog stand to feed the visitors.

Last year the Triple-E-series was surpassed in TEU-count by MSC’s new “Zoe-class” ships. Fortunately these are now also regular guests in Aarhus and together with the booming cruise industry in the region there should be plenty of impressive ships to be seen for the awakening new audience of amateur ship spotters at the southern-most tip of the Djursland.